Efficiency and Productivity Growth in a Sample of Italian Container Terminals

In this study we estimate a production frontier for a sample of Italian container terminals observed over the period 2001-2008 in order to assess the pattern of Total Factor Productivity (TFP). Estimates of different stochastic frontier models suggest the existence of a modest but positive TFP growth rate over the period 2001-07 and an abrupt fall in TFP in 2008, which probably reflects the onset of the 2008-9 world recession. We also find that scale economies and technical change have positively contributed to TFP growth over the sample period ; in turn, all models find a decline in technical efficiency. Finally, the different stochastic frontier methods considered in this paper give a broadly consistent picture of the productivity and efficiency developments that have occurred in this sample.